Ontario is losing a piece of its cultural character, film critic Richard Crouse said in a video chat posted on YouTube.

“It seems shameful to me that it’s disappearing and that it’s just sort of unceremoniously being stripped away,” he said.

“If you ask anyone on the planet — well, Toronto, Ontario — what’s the first thing that pops into your mind when you think of TVO, they’re going to say, Saturday Night at the Movies.”

Education Minister Laurel Broten said she’s a fan of movies, but left little hope that the show will be saved.

“It is a decision that TVO has made and they apprised us of that decision,” she said. “And that is the choice that they have made.”

Yost, who hosted the show for 25 years, conducted interviews with classic film stars and the directors, composers and screenwriters behind the camera that would run between two commercial-free films.

“Elwy was everybody’s movie grandpa,” Crouse said.

Yost retired in 1999 and died last year at the age of 85.

TVO is also cutting 35 to 40 employees and two other programs as part of an effort to save $2 million, under pressure from the cash-strapped governing Liberals who are trying to eliminate a $14.4-billion deficit.

It said it will put more resources into “digital innovation in children’s educational media” and current affairs and have fewer staff dedicated to traditional TV production as it addresses reduced government funding.

“These are tough decisions but times change and we have to adapt and innovate,” CEO Lisa de Wilde said Tuesday in a release.

“When Saturday Night at the Movies began almost 40 years ago, it broke new ground, but now entire TV networks and web services are dedicated to movies.”

Premier Dalton McGuinty didn’t comment directly on the loss of the show, but he did praise De Wilde.

“Proud of @TVO,” he tweeted Tuesday after the cuts were announced. “Thanks for your leadership.”

The current season of Saturday Night at the Movies is scheduled to be its last. Allan Gregg in Conversation and Big Ideas will also go off the air in the spring.

TVO says it plans to include some Big Ideas lectures as part of The Agenda with Steve Paikin.

The Ontario government indicated in this year’s budget that all public agencies, including TVO, need to reduce their reliance on government money, TVO noted.

It’s total operating budget for the current fiscal year is $64 million, of which the Ministry of Education contributes $42 million, it said.

The additional $22 million comes from revenue TVO generates through donations and corporate sponsorships, among other things.

Every agency funded by the government is feeling the squeeze, said NDP Leader Andrea Horwath.

“I think our public broadcaster is one that’s valued by Ontarians — both TVO and TFO — and I would hope that the programming that they provide continues to keep Ontarians interested,” she said Wednesday.